Property Management Blog

Many homeowners would love to work with a professional and licensed property manager in Washington DC to work on their behalf to lease and manage their home. However, not everyone sees the value of paying an agent fee for our expertise. Yes, it’s not easy to know about the work that’s involved in preparing a home for rent which includes listing, marketing and ensuring everyone involved in a transaction are available and dedicated to the task. Dealing with all government regulations, vendors, late night calls and house repairs are essential parts of managing your property in Washington DC.

Great property manager makes great partners because they bear the cost of marketing your property, showcase your home to many renters, deal with the paperwork required by DC law and say you the time, money and stress. 

Even though there are many professional property managers available some homeowners in Washington DC want to rent and manage their properties by themselves. According to the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM), 80% of rental properties in the United States are self-managed. 

Renting and managing a home without professional representation is a difficult task. Some owners who are thinking of managing their properties in Washington DC may not understand the high level of complexity and sometimes emotional hurdles to renting and maintaining their home. 

The Following Are The Ten Common Problems Homeowners May Face When Managing Their Property By Themselves:

1. The Renters Mentality

Some renter may use the opportunity to get a discounted rate since it’s the homeowner’s that managed the properties. Properties with unrepresented management rent for nearly 25% less and may take a more extended period to rent than homes which are rented through the realtor network. 

Also, to be sincere, a yard sign from an experienced brokerage company looks a lot more professional than a ‘’For Rent’’ poster from a hardware store taped to the mailbox. 

2. Renters Get Uncomfortable Dealing Directly With Homeowner’s

Many renters do not prefer touring a home with the property owner. They might not be able to communicate effectively, and they may not feel relaxed because the owner of the property is with them. This could make them lose interest in the house.  

3. Emotional Attachment to the House

Homeowners are emotionally attached to the home, which prevents their ability to negotiate and depersonalize the relationship. Since they are the owner of the house, they have some bonds they shared with the house, and this could lead to talking about things that are personal to them and not focusing more on the business aspect. 

4. Overspending During Preparation

The owner of the property may not know the things that need to be fixed or updated in their home, and this could lead to spending more when preparing their home for rent. This is the reason you need to hire a property manager like us, we will offer you a full report on the features that are important to renters, and we will also help you to prioritize a punch list to prevent you from wasting money. We also have vetted and reliable vendors that we have negotiated preferred pricing that would be passed on to you. 

5. Get Qualified and Professional Property Manager

Showcasing a home to renters who are not qualified, or con artists is a waste of time and energy. Unrepresented homeowners don’t have systems that can be used to verify qualified renters. They will be inundated with calls from agents who would like to list their home for sale, fish out the renters that do not need rent, investors looking for an off-market deals, verify the renters who are searching for house and can’t afford it or removed the renters who are not qualified by our standards or requirements. 

6. Pricing

This is a very important part of renting a home. As a professional property manager in Washington DC, we’ll check the comparable home sales and neighborhood statistics, make use of detailed knowledge of every home that is available for rent in the area and a fundamental understanding of the current housing market to get a value for a home. We have access to many tools that homeowners don’t. We will be delighted to share these tools with you without any obligation. You can check our website and get a comparable market analysis HYPERLINK of your property. If you wish to get more information and get a marketing plan after visiting your property, do not hesitate to contact one of our customer representatives. 

Some websites are unreliable and full of scammers. Therefore, unrepresented homeowners may not get the right information, and they do not know about the local real estate market as we do. This can lead to pricing your home below the normal price. If the price is too high, the home will sit on the market and get stale, but if the price is low, there will be opportunity loss on the part of the homeowner. 

7. De-Personalizing the Relationship

De-personalizing a home for rent is essential. Your new tenant will want to see your home as their next home. We will identify photos, unique items and other personal effects that you should pack up before showing the home. Some homeowners have a hard time depersonalize their own homes, but for us, it’s about maximizing the home’s appeal and raising its value for prospective buyers. We know how to work with tenants. We will be the ones to deal with the hard parts of saying no to the tenant or explain to you about some issues and the best way to resolve them.  

8. Paperwork and Legalities

The amount of paperwork and organization it takes to guide a rental in Washington DC from application through move in is massive. Most homeowners are not familiar with the terminology or process, nor are they aware of all the pitfalls and legal protections needed in a real estate transaction.

DC law and regulations about rentals in Washington DC are always changing. We’ll work hard to keep you and your property in compliance with all the rules and regulations. Through EJF’s direct involvement with the DC Chapter of National Association of Residential Property Managers, the CAI’s Legislative Action Committee as well as the local real estate associations, we have helped shape these regulations, for the betterment of our clients and our industry.

You can get more information about all aspects of Property Management in Washington DC on our website. You can also give us a call, and one of our professional property managers would be happy to talk to you.